4 bizarre traditions that scientists around the world follow
What is that one thing that we all associate with scientists? We believe that they are intelligent people driven by logic and reason. But what if we told you that some of them, working with the most prestigious institutes, are often surprisingly superstitious? They have created their own set of bizarre traditions that don’t fit into the scheme of logical reasoning. Here are few of our favourites.
NORAD tracks the location of Santa Claus
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, popularly known as NORAD has a weird tradition that they follow every year ahead of Christmas. They track the location of Santa Claus in real time for all the kids worldwide.
What’s interesting is that this tradition began as a mere accident in 1955 when an American newspaper mistakenly listed the phone number of a Colorado-based NORAD office as that of Santa Claus where children can call and talk to him. Now, one of the high-ranking NORAD officers was so amused with the news that he ordered his men to provide an imaginary location of Santa to whoever called, instead of hanging up on them. Maybe, he just wanted to spread the Christmas spirit around! Nevertheless, the tradition of NORAD tracking Santa Claus around the world for millions of eager children is still very much on.
Technicians at NASA eat beans when a probe launches
In 1964, during the ongoing Ranger 7 mission to the Moon, an absent-minded NASA technician had opened a massive jar full of peanuts. While Ranger 7 was the 7th unmanned probe sent to explore the lunar surface, it was the first successful one. Since then, NASA technicians consume a handful of peanuts ahead of every probe landing for good luck!
Similarly, NASA officials also eat beans after every successful rocket launch. Why? Because in the 1960 when all missions were failing back-to-back, they needed to blow off some steam and keep up the team’s morale. In fact, they all gather together irrespective of their hierarchies and throw around beans only to be caught by others in their mouths only! How amusing is that?
Russian astronauts pee all over the wheels of the bus that takes them to the launch pad
The world knows Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin as the first human to journey to outer space and back, successfully. But what we don’t know is that right before leaving for the orbit, he planted a tree, carved his name onto a door and peed all over the wheels of the bus that took him to the launch pad. While no one knows why he did these things, Russian astronauts who followed him did the same as not just as a superstition but also a homage to the original Gagarin. Crazy, isn’t it?
Researchers at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Centre watch The Thing
If you are ever looking for the harshest and remotest working environment, it has to be the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research and Command Centre in Antarctica. So, you can understand how challenging it must be ahead of the winters. Guess what the researchers of the elite institute do? They prepare psychologically by watching the film series The Thing. They begin with the 2011 one that was set in the South Pole itself and revolved around an alien stuck in ice going on a killing spree, unable to find a way out of there. Thereafter, they move on to watch the first film in the series that was released in 1982 followed by the last one released in the 2017. It is believed that if a person survives all the three movies at once, he or she will also be able to cope with the upcoming winter! This is optimism at its best.